MAM
Time for condom brands to review their storytelling
MUMBAI: Ironically, when it comes to advertisements, condom players don’t know how to play it safe. Condom ads have been at the centre of numerous controversies owing to the erotic nature of the storytelling. Several governments have taken a strong stand against sleazy ads.
Condom advertising in the US has been a much-debated topic for the longest time. At first, advertisements for condoms were mostly limited to men’s magazines such as Penthouse. The first television ad, on the California station KNTV, aired in 1975 but was quickly pulled off after it provoked the ire of people. Years later, the first condom commercial on US television aired in 1991.
Condoms have been available in India since the 1940s but the first mass-distributed condom was introduced in 1963 under the name of Kamaraj (pseudonym of Indian cupid Kamadeva) but K Kamaraj was then the president of the ruling party, Indian National Congress. Hence, a new name for the condom was chosen: Nirodh that means protection in Hindi.
In 1952, the Government of India established the first national family-planning programme in the world. At this time, condoms were privately manufactured and sold at high prices. Only the rich could afford the price of 25 paise even though population growth rate was the highest amongst the lower-income groups. In the late 1980s, several TV commercials were developed to create awareness about Nirodh. But the message from these advertisements was not clear about what a condom was, who used it, where would one get it or that it was distributed free of cost.
It was in 1991 that KamaSutra condoms seduced viewers with erotic images of Bollywood actors, linking condoms to pleasure for the first time. Today, you have plenty of condom brands but all of them rely on the same creative–sensual and explicit scenes. Durex, Manforce, Playgard, Skore and others have resorted to the same storytelling through the years.
They have not wavered from using the ‘sex sells’ motto to grab eyeballs. The Glitch co-founder and content chief Varun Duggirala thinks that the audience has matured but is still being considered as naive.
It was in December 2017 when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) decided to ban condom advertisements on television between 6 am to 10 pm. The move was directed after the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) approached the MIB for withdrawing condom ads that were telecast during prime time or ‘family-viewing time’. The council was reacting to complaints regarding the kind of content condom brands showed in ads, which was not necessarily suitable for kids and teenagers. Asci, in its letter to the ministry, specifically stated that ads that were explicit and vulgar in nature should be aired only between 10 pm and 6 am.
Havas India CEO Nirmalya Sen thinks that in India, the category has, to an extent, called the recent ban upon itself with mindless use of sex to sell condoms. He adds that this ban, in fact, could well be the catalyst the brands in the category need to act responsibly and be creative.
Ajay Rawal, general manager of marketing for JK Ansell, maker of KamaSutra sexual wellness products, believes brands need to change their communication now and move away from using erotic ads. “Things have changed drastically in the last decade and the option to view eroticism is now easily available online. Millennials today are not interested in seeing this kind of content and want to see a creative that is relatable, realistic and memorable for them,” he adds.
Interestingly, condom ads on digital are more creative than the TV ones – skewed to showing their use and benefits.
Condom makers don’t use these ads on TV because of the cost involved in buying ad slots where they don’t want to risk their necks.
Rawal notes that the advertising spends in the condom category are pithy compared to the giant FMCG category. “If a condom brand wants to create a new communication that does not have eroticism and sexual overdose to it, it has to be memorable and a lot of effort needs to be put in creating resonating, real and relatable stories,” he adds.
While stating that India is still a conservative country when it comes down to sex, Dentsu One president Harjot Singh Narang mentions that companies tend to resort to the easiest part of storytelling—to have lots of sex without any fear—which is why most condom ads show romanticising situations on air. “Internationally, brands have moved over sexuality in ads and are talking about where it actually fits in the consumer’s life. In India, Durex is taking that route but we still have a long way to go,” he says.
Historically, most condom purchases were made by men and that’s why the focus has predominantly been on the male audience. But since using contraception is essentially a woman’s call, maybe there is a need for change in communication and have more female protagonists in ads.
While raising a point that why condom advertising in India stops at soft porn, Narang concludes that it is time for brands to build deeper relationships with consumers by creating engaging content as it is the need of the hour.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
